1 Indicted In 1969 Homicide

Michael Ferreira Indicted On 1st-Degree Murder Count

A Salem man has been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in a decades-old homicide in Massachusetts.

Michael Ferreira, 58, was indicted by a Middlesex grand jury on one count of first-degree murder. Ferreira was indicted on one count of perjury in May.

Edward Allen Brown, 59, of Londonderry, was previously charged with one count of manslaughter, and Walter Shelley, 60, of Tewksbury, Mass., was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of intimidation of a witness.

Police said the men abducted 15-year-old John Joseph McCabe and held him in a car on Sept. 27, 1969. Police said he was assaulted and bound and gagged, which led to his death.

The cause of death was determined to be asphyxia due to strangulation, according to the prosecutor.

A Justice Department civil rights investigation has concluded that the Ferguson Police Department and the city's municipal court engaged in a "pattern and practice" of discrimination against African Americans.